About 70 children who were vaccinated against coronavirus in Prince George’s County received expired first or second doses because of a storage issue, county health officials said Thursday.

       Those children — ages 5 to 11 — do not face health risks because of the error, officials said, although the doses of Pfizer’s pediatric vaccine they received are less likely to effectively protect them against covid-19. The health department has scheduled a special clinic to revaccinate the children, who got their shots Nov. 26 at the Wayne K. Curry Sports and Learning Center in Landover, said George L. Askew, said deputy chief administrative officer for health, human services, and education.

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       The mistake was the result of a storage error that the county’s vendor caught, said Askew, who has been helping lead the county’s covid-19 response. He said department officials consulted extensively with the Centers for the Disease Control and Prevention, the Maryland state health department and Pfizer about how to proceed.

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       “It is nice when everyone is in agreement — and everyone was in agreement that receiving the expired vaccine was not going to be detrimental to the children’s health,” he said in an interview. “But everyone was also in agreement that it did not give all the protection and that children should get revaccinated.”

       Askew said he is hopeful that the mistake will not increase parents’ concerns about the getting their children vaccinated. Prince George’s, a majority-Black D.C. suburb, was hard hit by covid-19 during the first surge last spring and second in the winter but now has among the lowest transmission rates in Maryland. Askew credited that to increasing acceptance of the vaccine in communities that were initially hesitant.

       Health department spokesman George Lettis said that 13 percent of children ages 5 to 9 have been vaccinated in Prince George’s, and about 58 percent of 10-to-19-year-olds in the county have been vaccinated.

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       “I am always nervous — I am always nervous that folks will have any experience that will make them hesitant to get vaccinated,” Askew said. “The greatest protection we have is of course vaccination.”

       Men lag behind women in coronavirus vaccinations, especially in Black communities

       The health department will offer private clinics for children affected by the mistake on Dec. 5 and Dec. 11 at the Cheverly Health Center. The doses they received on Nov. 26 had expired Nov. 24, Askew said.

       The vendor, HealthCare Dynamics International, has retrained staff about vaccine storage and revised its policies, Askew said. He said he has confidence in the vendor, which he noted has delivered more than 40,000 vaccines in Prince George’s.

       Families that were affected by the mistake have been contacted by phone and email.

       “We certainly regret this incident,” Askew said. “And we are really, really sorry for the inconvenience it causes our families.”